Current show with largest orchestra?
Current show with largest orchestra?
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#0Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:33pmWhich currently playing musical has the largest number of musicians. Which has the smallest?
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#1re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:35pmI'll be interested to see an answer to this - I can tell you it was WONDERFUL to see A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC in LA with a full orchestra - all those strings!
#2re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:39pmI'm always so happy (band dork that I am) to see a nice, full orchestra. I was so pleased to see one at The Producers, since before that my most recent shows had been Aida and Caroline, or Change.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#3re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:47pmI imagine they had a decent sized one for Gypsy. I think the current minimum for full orchestra shows is 19 - but I could be COMPLETELY mistaken about that.
#4re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:47pmThe Gypsy orchestra was FABULOUS. I loved the trumpet solo in the overture.
#5re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:51pmI think Phantom has about 26 players, but it could be a few more or less.
"Wherever you go... I'll be right there. When you get your own private kick in the ass, just remember: it's a present from me to you."
Rose's dying words to Louise
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#6re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/2/04 at 11:56pmMy guess (just a guess): 42nd Steet. Why? Any producer willing to run a show with a cast of 50+ in this era, is not going to try and scrimp on the orchestra. Probably 26-28 players (I don't think any show has more than 26-28 in the pit). Wicked is probably also up there (the Gershwin is the largest house on Broadway, so they probably have the largest minimum with local 802).
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#7re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 12:09amWonderful Town has 24 players...10 of them strings!
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Henry Miller
Updated On: 8/3/04 at 12:09 AM
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#8re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 1:20am
My guess is that shows that have that full orchestral sound in the background when you listen to the CD are the ones that have the biggest orchestras (unlike Urinetown)...for example:
Beauty and the Beast
Phantom of the Opera
La Boheme
Oklahoma!
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#9re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 1:54amWicked, 42nd Street and Beauty and the Beast all have 24 piece orchestras. I think Phantom is probably the winner here, as I think they have a 26 or 28 piece orchestra. The Gypsy revival was 23 pieces in the theatre.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#10re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 5:36am
Millie--
You cannot base anything on what you hear on a CD. Very often, extra players (who never play in the pit for the show) are hired to fill out the sound just for the cast album.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#11re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 9:16amJust look at the original Assassins recording, in which the orchestra was magically expanded from 3 to 20+ pieces.
#12re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 9:22amCAROLINE, OR CHANGE actually doesn't have a very large orchestra. It's barely medium size. It has I believe somewhere around 10 people in the pit. And LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS has 10 or 11 musicians. I don't think any musical has less than that right now.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#13re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 9:29am
I think RENT has one of the smallest- there's only 4 or 5 people in the orchestra (it's actually a band).
PRODUCERS does have a big orchestra- it was nice to see that, because the music was really nice.
I have my books and my poetry to protect me...
#14re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 10:08amThe orchestra for "Wonderful Town" is well ahh ... in a word wonderful, large and right on stage where they belong.
"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien
chauvelin128
Understudy Joined: 5/11/04
#15re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 10:16amDracula has six people in the pit. Three keyboards, a woodwind, a cello, and percussion.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#16re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 10:18amI hope the revival of A Little Night Music has a nice big orchestra- that score needs all those strings to really sound glorious.
#17re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 10:19amAs far as strings go, doesn't wicked put their strings in a whole seperate room?? I thought i saw that somewhere, and then they have a camera on the conductor piped into a monitor in the room
In the words of Mr. William Morris Barfee, "In my whole life I have only been able to breathe through one nostril and today is no exception!"
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#18re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 10:21amI understand the need to do stuff like that, I guess, because of staging and the arrangement of some Broadway houses, but geez. As a classical violist, that horrifies me.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#19re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 10:50amWHAT?!?! DRACULA only has six musicians in the pit?! Shame on Wildhorn.
chauvelin128
Understudy Joined: 5/11/04
#20re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 10:56amI don't think he's happy about it, Morosco. Any Wildhorn score is clearly written to be played by a huge orchestra...
BWayBoy88
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/23/04
#21re: Current show with largest orchestra?
Posted: 8/3/04 at 3:15pmI have a question. I thought the minimum number of people in an orchestra was around 20. How could some shows only have 4 people?
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